(Józef Chełmonski - Cross in Smoke, 1907)
For centuries they have been silently listening to the eternal murmur of Vistula, Moravia, Wagu... For centuries they have stood silently wrapped in the cold of Mazovia flowers and forest... For centuries, standing alone at the crossroads of roads seem to defender the large secrets of ancient Wielkopolska forests and... For centuries, they have been standing at the crossroads of Saint Mary reminding travelers of Christ's sacrifice to supply eternal salvation for them... For centuries they have been standing alone among the lush grass-covered meadows of Małopolska, from where the loud laughter of children from many peasant families came years ago ... Since time immemorial, they have been sketching a light dawn against the background of the Polish and Slovak Tatras... From time immemorial, standing at the entrances to Moravian villages seem to welcome visitors... Sometimes in deserted villages forgotten and covered with peasants... More frequently in bustling towns worshiped with large devotion and annually decorated with the most beautiful flowers... Sometimes the winds seem to wait for individual to choice them up mercifully... Sometimes all generation carefully renovated utilizing multicolored paints... The confederate crosses of the western Slavic...
Though field crosses in all without exception Western countries Slavics have enjoyed their mysterious beauty for centuries, and it is in the 21st century that so many Polish, Czech and Slovak artists have leaned over their mystery by speaking of their timeless beautiful language of music... The motive of the field cross so frequently appears in Polish, Czech and Slovak music today, and it is not easy to choose from a large number of works on this subject...
However, taking on this hard task especially for the purposes of this text I have chosen the ones that have moved me the most over the years and which I remember most deeply... So let's look at my letter...
The motif of the field cross in contemporary Polish music:
Red Guitars - White Cross
Bożena and Lech Makowiecki - Road chapels, crosses at break-up
The motif of the field cross in modern Czech music:
V-BAND - I'm sorry.
The motif of the field cross in modern Slovak music:
Peter Ľuptovčiak - V íčrom poli kr
Maguranka - Behind me and behind me
Of course, they are not the only musical pieces on this subject, but among their large numbers I tried to choose the best ones...
Since I have been curious in Slovakism and bohemisticism for years in no little than theology, for years I have seen 2 contradictory social trends...
On the 1 hand, many contemporary Polish, Czech and Slovak artists inactive contact on the subject of field crosses, speaking the language of music about their timeless beauty, and on the another hand many Polish militant atheists and staunch anticlericals inactive insist on removing them from public space... It's been the same for years. all time I find a fresh Slovak or Czech musical track on the net touching its field, roadside crosses (and there are quite a few them) I always find out a fewer weeks later by accident from news media that any Polish militant anti-clerical demands that they be removed from public space... It's been the same for years. Whenever a Slovak or Czech artist impresses me with his sensitivity in touching the language of symbolic music Cross and Christian values, always after that any Polish militant atheist will irritate me to white with his contempt for Catholic traditions and his delusional sense of superiority over Catholics... For many, many years...
And so our Western Slavic field crosses became in our time in the 21st century a bone of discord between the beauty of the artists, and those who want to remove them from the militant atheists... The bone of discord in the eternal conflict of good against evil...
However, let us return to all the music from my list above... I was personally touched by all single 1 of them and delighted... But I'm afraid that if I had forced them to perceive to any Polish atheistic warrior, he would have laughed at most... But on the another hand... Why lose energy for discussions with any Polish haunted anti-clericist, erstwhile at the same time you can enjoy the beautiful voice of Slovak and Czech artists from the highest... Although... Sometimes I think that if any Polish average grey bread eater who is far from God saw with what reverence Slovaks and parts of musicians mention to field and roadside crosses in their countries, he might want to find 1 himself in his immediate vicinity... If only to look at him... To see it carefully... possibly in time he'd appreciate him...
(Stanisław Tchaikovsky - Road Cross, 1929)
Because only erstwhile we realize how beautiful all these field crosses have been for years standing at the crossroads of roads and among the vast fields of all Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia... Only then will we realize how ridiculous and stupid the demands of removing them from public space...
Only erstwhile we realize how common the motive is the field cross in contemporary Polish, Czech and Slovak music... Only then will we realize how pathetic are the different wise men with an imaginary sense of superiority openly proclaiming the request to remove them from public places... Only erstwhile we realize how many hearts many Polish, Czech or Slovak artists have put into doing their work devoted to the Polish or roadside cross... Only then will we realize how immeasurably stupid and unnecessary it would be to perceive to the militant atheists and remove him from the place where he stood for years...
Therefore, let us delight in the deep, moving message from all these Polish, Czech and Slovak musical works touching on the mysterious beauty of the fields and roadside crosses of the western Slavic... And all the more reason to realize how foolish and ridiculous are the demands of the militant atheists to remove them from public space!!!
